Vital Signs: A Storm Inside

ER doctors cannot explain a young woman’s sudden confusion and pain. What are they missing?

The mother’s gaze was as piercing as a hawk’s. “My daughter has never been like this,” she told me evenly. “This is not her.” I glanced at the nurse’s ER triage note: “Rita Suarez, 26-year-old, insulin-dependent diabetic, confused since this morning.”
Forewarned, I turned to the thin, pale woman on the stretcher who squirmed like an overtired child. “I feel so bad,” she mumbled.
“Ms. Suarez,” I asked, “doe...

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